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Dec 31, 2012

From my family to yours, we wish you a happy new year full of new hope and new chances! This new year is a blessing to start anew. Let us be thankful for this chance to enjoy our jobs, our lives and our families! Happy New Year everyone!

Dec 28, 2012

15 years ago, I married this guy who I knew I couldn't live without. He was my champion, my best friend, my lover and my partner-in-crime. Our years together has never been perfect, but I know, that it will always be worth it. Our celebration was simple: a testament to our life together. We chose to spend it with the whole family.

I woke up to this single white rose and a kiss from my husband, who just came from work. After he has slept a bit, we went to mass and went to a mall to have lunch. I drove, a testament to his trust, since I have not yet drove this far! We made it in one piece, ha ha ha!

The whole family having lunch at Chowking. A simple fare of fried chicken, pansit and chopsuey.

After lunch, we decided to walk off the calories by walking around the mall.

We played some arcade games, well, that's my son and my sister and my mom looking at them.

The younger kids tried this rocking boat, which made them dizzy!

We had some ice cream too! Then it was time to go home because my husband has work that night.

Our relationship is pretty much like how we spent that day: secure in the fact that we are together and we have food to sustain us, some play to delight us, a doze of sweetness to keep the love alive, and a little thrill (my driving) as a sign of trust! And after 15 years, I cant imagine living my life without my husband by my side! And for this, I will always be thankful for the wonderful blessing that is our marriage and our family!

Dec 27, 2012

Belated Merry Christmas everyone! Today is the day to count our blessings! Happiness is:
1. Celebrating Christmas with my whole family, including my Ate Dianne and her family!
2. Seeing the joy in the face of my kids when they open their gifts. Priceless.
3. Karaoke session, thanks to Kuya Mher!
4. My Longchamp from my Corplan friends. Yehey!
5. My tripod and monopod. Now I only have to save up for a DSLR camera!
6. Driving to MOA and back! And parking at level 6 too!
7. Our 15th year anniversary. We attended mass and had a simple lunch at MOA. It was simple and fun.
8. Watching Enteng Kabisote with the kids. The kids enjoyed it so we were happy also.
9. Oh, and Divisoria shopping with Inay and Kris.
10. Driving to Taytay to fetch my Ate and her family because they spent the Christmas in our house. Even though she wouldn't let me drive on the way to our house and back to theirs, hahaha!

This was a very unexpected gift, but much much welcome indeed! My friends at the office gave me this for Christmas, my first Longchamp Le Pliage small bag! I was hoping to get it as a gift from my husband, or as gift to myself, but since I am saving for the Cambodia trip, I was hoping to get this next quarter of next year! Thanks to them, I will just have to buy a bigger one after I buy my Kindle and or a Fossil watch, ha ha ha!

See the very sweet note on the card? I was so touched that I screamed when I opened it and saw what was inside. But I also contributed to the gift for the girls too, but I am so touched by their gesture.

I hope this will not be my last Longchamp because I am hoping to buy another one before the year ends. There is nothing like a nice bag to make a girl feel empowered!

Dec 22, 2012

We thoroughly enjoy our first visit at Bejewelled Spa in March so when I saw again that there was a deal at Cash Cash, I bought again three vouchers for me and my best friends Ehms and Rona. Same as before, it was a very good experience! We have had other body scrub and massage experience from other salon before but we really keep coming back to Bejewelled Spa. Apologies for the images as they are taken using my blackberry or Ehms' phone. Image below is before the scrub.

After the one hour scrub, and the hair spa, we head on to the shower and then the massage follows. It was still the best massage ever! Here are the well-pampered girls after the treat!

Posing before the Bejewelled Spa signage and saying, "I'll be back!" I also told the girl to text us when they have groupon sale.

Dec 21, 2012

I got this from the office Christmas 'exchange gift' yesterday and I was so happy! Well, this was technically not a surprise since I put it down on my wish list but I was still so happy to get it! They know for a cam whore somebody who takes pictures of me and of everything (pang-blog, ha ha ha) so this really suits me!

But I was actually more surprised to get this monopod below as an extra gift! Its an arm extender, so that you can take your own picture, ha ha! I should have bought one sooner so that my husband and I could have had more pictures together when we went to Boracay last October. The camera is not included, that's my old one.

Next item on my list is a dslr, but that will have to wait a little since I am saving for the CDO and Cambodia trip for first quarter next year!

Dec 20, 2012

I love eating, and my 139 lbs body on a 5'2'' frame is a testament to my love of food. I will say that I am forever on a diet but of course, nobody will believe me, ha ha ha! Anyway, Chowking will always be my comfort food, and one that I enjoy best with my Ate Dianne. She was a working student in college and she worked at Chowking so she knows the food and she love them too!

And these are our favorite: Chaofan, siomai and Kangkong with Bagoong. Every time I eat these, I am always reminded of my Ate.

There used to be a time when soup was free in Chowking but nothing is free now so we bought this wanton soup to warm our hungry tummies :)

Chowking is one of those food that gives me comfort and will always make me remember my sister and home.

Dec 19, 2012

Happiness is:
1. Christmas parties x 100! Ha ha ha! I am so fat already!
2. The small electric fan I won from the raffle. My one and only win in history ever. I am too malas at raffles, ha ha.
3. Going to Divisoria with my daughter and her finding it exciting even if it was so masikip and all. Anak ko talaga!
4.Finishing Nicholas Flamel's The Secrets of the Immortal series on my C3. He he, soon sa Kindle na talaga, pramis. And now you know why I havent been blogging, because I was busy reading!
5. Divergent and now Insurgent! Cant seem to stop reading. And I wish the third book will come out sooner!
6. The kid's Christmas Party tomorrow, which means last day of school!
7. Cake, thanks to birthdays at work.
8. Huge pizza too!
9. My double chin, which means I am gaining wait which means I am enjoying good food. Next year na lang ulit yung diet!
10. Online income, yehey!

Dec 13, 2012

This is my 1000th post and all I have to say is that let us all be grateful that we are still alive, whether we have problems or not. Life is still wonderful! There is always a second chance, to do better tomorrow!

This is just a friendly reminder this holiday season. We may be so caught up with the excitement of the Christmas season and in getting our bonuses that we might forget to save some money. To avoid this, when I get my money, I put half into my savings account and I promise myself I won't touch it no matter what happens. I have a budget that I follow, and if I know that I will exceed this budget, I cut down on some items. I believe that we should set aside some money as savings for future purchases, like real estate orange beach investment perhaps. Of course, we all want to give something since this is the season of giving, but we must also remember to reward ourselves. Rewarding ourselves doesn't always mean buying the latest phone or other gadgets, but by first by saving some money. When you know you have money kept for emergency and investment purposes, you have sanity and peace mind. And remember, Christmas is not always about gifts, but more about giving love and time and togetherness. For my family, I know that aside from the gifts that we will receive, the greatest gift will always be each other.

Dec 12, 2012

Happiness is:
1. The growing Cambodia fund, thanks to Linkworth payment and Google Adsense earnings.
2. Christmas parties
3. Unlimited cake at CCA. Yummy!
4. The Hobbit premiere tonight.
5. The SM Free Movie Day last Sunday
6. Mang Inasal and unlimited rice and chicken oil.
7. Nicholas Flamel, Perenelle, Josh and Sophie and even Dee and Machiavelli. For the distraction. Good thing I have the C3 to read it on.
8. Food, food and more food as Christmas gifts!
9. Peanut butter
10. Gifts, gifts and gifts, even though I have never even started with my own Christmas list, wahhhhh!

Yehey, more money for my Cambodia fund! This is my third, or is it fourth, Linkworth payment? I lost count, but I am happy with Linkworth so you better sign up now! There is nothing like a pay-out to make my day!

This is the season for Christmas parties and a time when a diet is indeed a futile exercise. This is just the first week of Christmas and we already have 2 Christmas parties, and 2 more coming, and this is just in our company. The first one was the big party, held at a hotel and where major major production numbers are held. I was invited to join the performance, but I declined since I cannot dance to save my life, ha ha ha! Now, second party is our departments party. Since we are only 17, our boss reserved a room at the CCA in Podium where we had a buffet set up and below is my first plate!

There was pasta, grilled chicken, beef teriyaki, fish and vegetable lasagna. Apologies for the picture since it was only taken by my blackberry, but believe, the vegetable lasagna was super super good! I think I got up 3x to get more! And the highlight of the evening, aside from the hilarious Pinoy Henyo game, was the unlimited cake!

Yep, unlimited cake. Did I say unlimited cake? Ha ha, we were so full, and so happy with the Pinoy Henyo (words were Ratatouille,Avionics, Eric Clapton, Ant eater, Mary Magdalene) and only 3 pairs got the correct answer! This is my idea of a perfect Christmas party: no pressure to prepare dance but just to bring your jolly self, enjoy the food and each other's company and join in games! And the gift-giving of course! See, its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Dec 6, 2012

I love buying stuff online, especially beauty and wellness deals. I buy massage deals for my husband, hair treatments for me and my sister, and spa package for me and my BFF's and even rooms in Boracay! Despite hits and misses in some deals, I am actually happy with most of my purchases. But when the bills arrive, I get the shock of my life! Its so easy to click 'BUY' and make purchases because you don't feel the expense yet. But since I am saving for my first out of the country trip February next year, the buying has to stop! So I will delete all my bookmarks for these sites so that I will not be tempted to check their latest deals. So Ehms, stop me please! Oh and see you later for our Spa Date thanks to Cashcash, hahahaha!

Dec 5, 2012

Happy Wednesday! Its 20 days before Christmas! Happiness is:
1. The 13th month pay and paying off debts. What a way to start the new year!
2. The 3-day weekend last week.
3. Divisoria shopping with Drexelle. Thats one kid off the list.
4. My newly rebonded hair! And it was so cheap too.
5. My new P125 bag. Ha ha, ang kuripot ko.
6. Christmas parties and getting my first Christmas gift.
7. Siopao and siomai from Henlin.
8.Not buying any vouchers lately and hoping to be able to control self more.
9. Body massage for my husband and McDo dinner while waiting with Ishi.
10. Driving! Hope I can do this alone soon :)

This time of the year, and sometimes after Christmas, we get the house ready for the New Year. Sometimes, we buy new furniture sets like the sofa we got last year, or we paint the house. For this year I think, we will paint the house green unless my husband gets me any of the listings at fountain hills real estate then I wouldn't have to get it ready! A new house would be the perfect Christmas gift but of course, that is just wishful thinking. But our house, newly painted, and with my loved ones happy and healthy, is the most special gift that I could ask for. No house, big or small, can make me happier than seeing my family happy. But of course, it would make them more comfortable if the house is clean and presentable. So I will set aside one day of next week to do the painting. And actually, this is not chore for me because I love painting the house and see it transform our home. If only I can say the same for my eldest son, ha ha ha. But I am sure he will help me because he cant stand see me getting tired by myself.

Dec 4, 2012

I think I have already blogged about my son Danniel turning 10, and how we had a simple celebration at home and then went to a mall for some more fun. And here are some of the photos, with lots of blue in them!

Taken at the Skygarden of SM North Edsa on our way inside the mall. Love the blue Christmas tree!